The main reason that has contributed to the failure of primary education in Sri Lanka has been the recruitment of untrained teachers to the primary grades, said Minister of Education attorney Dr. Susil Premajayantha.

Speaking at an event held yesterday (13), he pointed out that the goals of primary education cannot be achieved through the recruitment of untrained teachers to the primary classes and that it should be done by well-trained teachers since primary education plays a major part in a person's life. He also said that if a child’s primary education fails due to any reason, his secondary education will be completely hampered and that therefore, the Government has taken a great responsibility to uplift the primary education in the country.

“In a recent survey, it was revealed that the literacy of children studying in Grade Three has decreased compared to the children of previous years. These children were admitted to schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, they missed education activities in Grades One and Two. This situation was intensified due to the economic crisis that followed. The lack of resources caused by the economic crisis aggravated this problem, but now we are working to mitigate the damage to learning,” he said.

He said that despite the recruitment of new teachers with the aim of ending the current shortage of teachers, the conduct of examinations has been temporarily stopped by court order due to the actions of certain parties. 

However, he said that no recruitment to the service will be done outside the prescribed system. “Certain parties had protested that they don’t need an interview or an examination. They say that if they have been hired, the service should be confirmed. But, the Ministry of Education needs to hire qualified people who have some training. Especially, the employment of untrained teachers is one of the main reasons that caused the collapse of primary education in this country,” he claimed.